U.N. peacekeeping mission spokesman David Wimhurst said most of the 100 people aboard the vessel were able to swim to safety. The boat sank after taking on water about 150 yards (150 meters) from shore late Saturday.

Crews recovered 11 bodies from the water according to Wimhurst and Mayor Evil Lavilette of Pestel, the ferry's departure point. At least five were children.

The boat was on a slow, two-day journey along the top of Haiti's southern peninsula, transporting passengers, food and charcoal to the capital, Port-au-Prince. It made several stops to take on passengers and cargo and was "overcrowded," according to Wimhurst.

Bad roads and a lack of infrastructure force many on the coastline in impoverished Haiti to depend on rickety ferries.

U.S. intervenes in Pakistan political crisis

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- The United States intervened in Pakistan's political crisis Sunday, delivering a strong message of concern over the coalition government's infighting as the country's leaders remained deadlocked.

Richard Boucher, the Assistant secretary of State for South Asia, met in London with Asif Zardari and Nawaz Sharif, heads of Pakistan's two main political parties, where they were trying to agree on a formula for restoring the judges fired in November by President Pervez Musharraf.

Some of Sharif's ministers, including the country's finance minister, are likely to quit the Cabinet Monday to protest the government's inability to fulfill its pledge to bring back the judiciary, destabilizing the country further and playing into Musharraf's hands.

US officials denied that Boucher was mediating or attempting to impose a solution to the Pakistani leaders on the judicial issue. But Western diplomats said Boucher had expressed deep frustration over the way that the six-week-old Pakistani government has got entangled in a constitution wrangle to the neglect of other pressing issues, especially fighting terrorism.

Pakistan has been hit by a crippling shortage of electricity and a spike in food prices that is threatening to cause civil unrest, and is confronted by an insurgency by local and international violent extremists.